“They don’t even know me, what do I tell them? The order is under your authority?” Garza asked.
Lucas stopped in stride. “Oh, they know you, Garza. I’m not priming you for second in command and they not know who you are. Believe me, we’ve been a bit busy with this visitor and I haven’t had a chance to formally introduce you.”
“Okay, got it. Minus the galactic super being hovering over our compound, employment here has been a cultural shock,” she said.
“Yeah? I’d think after your service in the Marines, nothing would be.”
“I just got in the rhythm of it. After working for Belmont, they sent us a replacement captain, a real by the book family guy. I worked for him for years until you called.”
“Seems that would have made life easier,” Lucas said.
Garza shrugged. “You’d think, but I sort of enjoyed the challenge Belmont presented. He was unpredictable, kept me on my toes. The last guy was boring.”
“So, you’re saying you’re not bored again?”
“I got used to doing things by the book. This is anything but. It’s closer to working for Belmont, no offense,” she said.
Lucas cut his eyes at her and grinned. “Really?”
“Not you, just the unpredictable nature of it. Don’t get me wrong, I like it, just taking some adjustments on my end. This is in your face duty. Barely even a week in and I’m aiming down the sights at an alien,” she said.
“You’ve had about as close an experience with that as anyone,” Lucas said.
“What’s that?” Garza asked.
“With the ECHO, at the Crucible,” Lucas said.
“Yeah, I went to counseling over that whole ordeal.”
“You did well at the drill though, extremely well.”
“I guess. It became a nightmare for me, the sounds, the intensity of the ECHO, everything about the drill affected me, worse than war actually,” she said.
Lucas sat on the desk, staring at her. He combed through his thick white beard while she spoke and presented himself in a respectful, attentive manner. He nodded his head slowly after she finished, allowing her time to follow up.
“Well, if it’s any help, that’s what they designed the ECHO to do, affect your psychology, just like the way you describe,” he explained.
Garza cocked an eyebrow. “Then it worked like a charm.”
“If I may, what made it so terrifying to you, specifically?” he asked.
“Ah, I’m not sure. For me, I felt a sense of sadness coming from it, like all was lost. Not sure how to explain it, but I knew the ECHO wasn’t just a machine.”
“Really.”
“Yeah. I just knew it somehow, the way it reacted and moved especially. No way in hell we advanced in artificial intelligence to create that sort of energy. Our brute drones were top tier, and that ECHO was accelerated progression. Even with reverse engineering, it didn’t make sense,” she said.
“He was a former Army Ranger.”
“Okay. Why the hell would someone do that to themselves? Did they force it on him?”
“No. It’s complicated, but someone he cared about was in a bad situation.”
“Hm. Well, how’d that work out for him? Did it help?” she asked.
“Yeah. I think it did. It’s not perfect, but he’s doing the best he can with what he has.”
“Not sure I could ever do something like that,” she replied.
“What, sacrifice yourself for someone you love?”
“I’d do it for things I believe in, but I’m not so sure how I feel about love. Seems like such a fragile, fair weather thing,” she said.
“Garza, I always pegged you as the sappy type. You mean to tell me that all this time, I was wrong?” He threw his hands up.
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “You never thought that about me.”
“Of course, I did. Usually beneath a no-nonsense exterior is a soft, loving heart.” He smiled.
“There is, but not for some poser scoundrel, which is ninety percent of men in my experience. No offense, considering women can be just as bad.”
“Agreed, but you know, I’ve been what some call a treasure hunter for years, prowling around back woods and concrete jungles all over the world in the hopes of finding these alien materials. And you know what? I was usually unsuccessful. More than half the time, it was either gone or destroyed beyond recognition. Kinda like finding the right person.”
“See, it’s typically a lost cause.”
“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look at all. Anything worth having is gonna take work, serious work.”
“What about you? Never hear you talk about a wife or anything. You put all your concentration into this career? No time for anyone?” she asked, lowering her head slightly.
“I’m slowing down finally. If we get this alien situation handled, who knows. Maybe I’ll have time for that. I’m not getting any younger.” He chuckled. Garza began tapping her foot while panning around the room. There was a long pause as Lucas stared at her.
“Hey.” He stepped forward, standing over her.
“What?” she mumbled, looking away from him, tugging her blouse down nervously.
“Look at me,” he demanded. She glanced at him, unable to hold contact with his inviting blue eyes.
“Lucas, I—”
A man burst through the door. “Sir, drone camera four, Colonel Ritter’s convoy approaching.”
“Oh, okay, on it,” Lucas said, flipping out his wrist watch. The video feed loaded as Lucas stood up. “Let’s make our way down there anyway,” he said. The man closed the door, leaving the two alone again.
“Sorry, that was unprofessional,” Lucas said.
“You’re damn right it was, with everything we have going on, the last thing we need is tension, good or bad,” she said.
“Noted,” Lucas replied.
There was another awkward pause. “Now, after all this is over, if you’re the last man on Earth, who knows?” She smiled.
“Fair enough. Just got caught up in the moment, I guess.” He grinned, projecting a video feed out in front of him, observing the convoy of vehicles. “Hmm, let’s see. Notice anything unusual?” he asked.
She studied them for a moment as they walked down the steps. “They’re old. Like, really old military vehicles.”
“The Humvees and transports are before my time even,” Lucas observed.
“Damn, that’s way back.”
“Careful.” He said. She chuckled under her breath.
“Hard times? Maybe the Army cut funding.”
“Doubt it,” Lucas said, turning off the feed. “I want six brutes on the perimeter and a Viper drone overhead at max altitude, armed, just in case. Let’s be as discreet as possible. I don’t want Ritter worrying about anything, or the Omega.”
“Got it,” Garza said, touching her earpiece to relay the order. Lucas stepped outside the hangar into the small airstrip. He glanced back, observing the Viper drone redirecting and cloaking overhead just before its thrusters blasted it above the thin clouds.
The Omega came into view, slowly floating over Lucas and Garza, descending in front of them. “A-alright, everything looks great. We’re set up,” Lucas said.
The Omega glanced over its shoulder at Lucas. “I feel it, the tingling sensation throughout my body, a familiar, but dim jolt. It was the one thing that led me to believe you didn’t possess the artifact initially. The signal emitted from here, but I couldn’t feel the artifact.”
“You knew it wasn’t here all along?” Lucas asked, wiping the sweat from his brow. Even though it was later in the afternoon, the New Mexican sun was beaming down on them, leaving little refuge. There weren’t many clouds in the sky nor a breeze on the open airstrip.
“The artifact, even when inactive, is so powerful that we can sense its presence. Try to imagine such an oppressive force in your body, for two million years, then suddenly strip it away. It almost feels, comforting. So, ye
s, I was almost sure you didn’t have the artifact, but I couldn’t take the risk,” Omega explained.
“Great. Almost ninety million dollars in damage,” Lucas muttered, glancing back at his facility under construction.
“Sir, the convoy.” A guard in the watchtower to the right of Lucas pointed.
Straight ahead, Garza could see the smoke trails from the roaring engines. The heat waves from the hot tarmac created a fuzzy distortion effect on the vehicles as they were summoned into view.
“I have a request,” Lucas said, glancing up at the Omega.
It stopped, tilting its odd head toward him. “Yes?”
“Do you think it would be less of a strain on the human mind if we received the artifact, and then handed it over to you? These people haven’t seen you with their own eyes, and as you’ve probably gathered, we’re a rather skittish species.”
Omega’s body pulsed red as twenty-foot electric sparks flashed out in all directions, like porcupine quills as it began to emit a low shrilling sound.
Lucas and Garza covered their ears as the sound increased dramatically to a deafening roar that shattered the watchtower’s viewing glass. The guard hunkered down as if they were under attack.
The red pulsing subsided as Omega turned toward Lucas, lowering himself as the red sparks diminished to sporadic glimmering, its head was dropped slightly. “My, apologies, I was lost in thought for a moment. This familiarity brings back a wealth of memories that are intense, a surge of data from hundreds of thousands of years, the amount of suffering is unimaginable.”
“Everyone alright?” Lucas yelled. A few people answered back in a whimpered tone as the convoy approached within a quarter mile.
Lucas slowly stepped forward with Garza as they proceeded out in front of the others. He glanced back at the Omega. “Well, glad that’s out of the way,” he whispered.
“No shit. We can’t have another outburst like that when they’re here. Tensions are already high,” she said.
The wind began to pick up a bit, blowing right at them from the east. “Feels like a hair dryer,” Lucas said.
“I know. Being from south Texas, believe me, it’s not much better,” she said.
A black Humvee exited out of formation as the rest of the convoy slowed down. Lucas squinted. “Zoom, two hundred percent,” he ordered. His contacts increased his vision, giving him a crisp image of the lead Humvee. Colonel Ritter rode shotgun, wearing a pair of aviator sunglasses. His window was down with his arm hanging out.
A flatbed truck followed close behind Ritter as they parked thirty feet before Lucas and Garza. Ritter waved as the truck stopped, slowly removing his shades while glaring at the Omega floating a few hundred feet behind Lucas.
“Didn’t think you guys were gonna make it,” Lucas said. Ritter didn’t respond. A tall bald man in a dark suit got out of the back seat. He walked around and began to open Ritter’s door as he flung it open himself.
Ritter strolled forward, brushing past Garza. He stood in the middle of the airstrip alone for several seconds with his back to them.
He cocked his head. “I-I don’t know, seeing it in person, it’s just…different. Makes me think of all the people that came before us who looked into the stars and wondered. And here, here it is,” he mumbled.
“I guess we’re lucky to get the experience,” Lucas replied.
“That really depends, doesn’t it? That’s the only one of them? Does it have a ship? Crew?” Ritter turned, placing his hands on his hips.
“Again, we don’t know for sure, but I don’t think he needs backup. It’s called the Omega.”
“Omega?”
“That’s what we’re calling it,” Lucas said.
“Wait, it gave you its name, or you nicknamed it that?” the man in the black suit asked, crossing his arms low in front of him.
Lucas raised an eyebrow. “What does it matter really? And who are you exactly? A Washington element, I’m sure.”
“Everything matters. You should know how important details are being a former SEAL. The decision we make here could hold an enormous amount of gravity for the American people,” the bald man replied.
“Well, it gave us that name. My point is, we’re giving it what it wants and it’s leaving,” Lucas replied.
Ritter closed the distance slowly, stopping within a few feet of Lucas. “How do you know for certain that once we hand over the artifact, we get a peaceful exit from this thing?”
Lucas chuckled. “Ritter, we’ve both been in situations that appeared to hold a degree of uncertainty. What I’m telling you is, this is our only option.” Lucas gestured toward the flatbed truck. The Omega slowly drifted forward.
“Ahem, sir.” The bald man nodded behind Ritter. He turned around, staring at the creature.
Everyone gawked at the Omega as it loomed overhead, maybe thirty feet off of the ground. It stopped, its tentacles slowly stirring in the breeze. It met everyone’s eyes, even the dozens of soldiers in the back of the formation that exited their vehicles.
Ritter took a half-stumble backward as the Omega showed them its palms. “I only require what I left behind,” the Omega said in a low, much more comforting tone. Lucas’ mouth dropped as he glanced back at the Omega, then Garza.
“Require?” Ritter’s open mouth closed. His childlike astonishment quickly morphed into the hardnosed military commander he had evolved into. He turned back to the bald man and motioned to the flatbed truck. “Seems like we don’t have a choice then, do we?”
The canopy on the flatbed dropped, revealing a man in a white spacesuit. He was surrounded by a glass bubble just large enough for himself and the artifact in front of him. His helmet was tinted, and his left glove was slightly larger than the right.
The man in the spacesuit plunged the large hand into the artifact and turned it clockwise.
“Unwise,” the Omega said as its eyes flashed red. Sparks emitted from the center of the artifact as a tentacle whipped toward the truck, cutting the bald man in half and slicing off the upper portion of the truck’s cab, sending it sailing into another truck behind them, destroying it.
Ritter stared at his associate’s lower torso as it crumpled over. The cut was clean at the waist, like a high-powered laser had sliced him in half. “That could’ve b-been me,” he uttered. Ritter glared back at the Omega as it began to power down, its eyes began to blink quickly as it fought to hold up its own weight.
Lucas ran toward the Omega, “no-no-no!”
“You remember your pal, Dr. Keith Sanders?” Ritter asked.
“When we confiscated all your equipment, Keith apparently translated a portion of their language, and we hacked some of his files about these slave masters, and you know what we found? Vague directions on how to use this thing, but what we really need is his ECHO to fully control it, and you’re going to help us,” the bald man said.
“This is an example of having the will to do what’s necessary Lucas. Once you and Keith Sanders are in custody, the ECHO will come around.” Ritter looked over his shoulder.
Lucas pulled out his plasma pistol and aimed it at Ritter. Garza followed suit. They both pulled their triggers but nothing happened.
“What?” Lucas stared at his weapon.
Garza panned around for her drones. “Open fire!” she yelled. She noticed all the brute drones were motionless, unresponsive to her command.
“You’re insane!” Lucas narrowed his eyes.
“It’s disabled everything! I’ve got nothing!” Garza yelled, panning around.
“That’s exactly what it does.” Ritter sneered, pointing at the Omega. “See?”
Lucas observed as the Omega attempted to brace its fall with its tentacles like a man struggling to use crutches for the first time. A loud crash erupted as the Omega’s massive frame smashed into the concrete, its headpiece crown collided with the ground violently. The metal chipped out a shoe box-sized chuck of asphalt that flung high into air.
“Oh, my God, please
forgive us,” Garza mumbled with her hand over her mouth.
The Omega’s massive tentacles flopped across the runway lifelessly as a wall of dust slammed into their faces.
“What’s wrong with you people? No!” Lucas charged Ritter as a loud gunshot echoed off the landscape.
Lucas was knocked to the pavement. He glanced at his shoulder, observing the projectile entry wound. Garza ran to his aid. “Stay back! They’ll kill us both.” Lucas pointed at her, applying pressure to his wound with his hand.
Humvees walled around the Omega as several dozen soldiers filled in the gaps. Lucas’ men ran out to confront the soldiers, but their weapons were useless.
Ritter walked out to meet them. “Put down your weapons! I know most of them don’t work, but if they do, don’t get yourselves killed, men. I know many are you are veterans. Listen, this was not your decision to go along with this. My quarrel is not with you. Comply, and we’ll see you’re treated fairly. You won’t be prosecuted.”
A soldier stepped over to Lucas and rolled him over with his foot, gun drawn. Lucas kicked the barrel, knocking it out of his hand and into Lucas’ lap. He stood up pointing the M-4 rifle at Ritter. “Call them off!” he yelled. “Now!” Blood ran down Lucas’ shoulder as he stared a hole through Ritter. He gritted his teeth. “That’s why, you’re using all this old shit? This equipment, the trucks, weapons.” He shook the rifle. “You planned it all along, you fuck! Didn’t you?” Lucas yelled.
Ritter put up his hands calmly. “It only makes sense. I asked if you knew for certain this thing would leave peacefully. I never got an answer. Try to remember a time back when you put the American people first if you can.”
Lucas nodded. “Fuck you, Ritter. This is pure madness.”
“Oh, this is madness, is it? What about blindly giving away our only defense? Listen, I know you’ve grown extremely liberal in your old age, but we both know these creatures have already destroyed entire species before. It openly admitted it! They’ve proven their hostility here, too. Even some of your own men were hurt.”
“What do you not understand about how important this device is to their people? Do you really think for a second that they’ll allow this when they overpowered their masters, a race of aliens thousands of years more advanced than us? They took back their freedom from them, and you think we have a chance?” Lucas shouted.
Symphony of Descension: Echo Effect book 2 Page 8